Chris Evans on John Howards' immigration legacy

May 17, 2008

Rudd builds on Howard's legacy. Evans says: "One of the ironies is that John Howard convinced the Australian public that he was a small-migration man with the rhetoric about 'who comes to this country'. But the migration program continued to grow under Howard." This understates the Howard phenomenon. After cutting the intake initially, Howard became a silent convert. Immigration doubled during his era from 82,000 in Keating's last year to 159,000 in Howard's final year. But Rudd, unlike Howard, cannot conceal what he is doing.

And then Asian immigrants voted Howard out. Goose.